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Tuesday, March 16, 1999, 12:25 PM.
Resumed Kosova Conference Into Its Second Day, the Ball
on Belgrade's Court
PRISHTINA, March 16 (KIC) - The resumed Kosova conference entered its second day today in
Paris, with the ball now being squarely on Belgrade's court.
The Kosova delegation signed up to the Rambouillet Accords yesterday (Monday), 15 March.
In this sense, the Kosovars have effectively vetoed any possible changes the 'FRY'
delegation may seek to the text of the agreement on a three-year-long self-government for
Kosova, which was negotiated at Rambouillet last month.
The following is the full text of the letter in English from Kosova delegation, signed by
its head Hashim Thaçi, to the French and British foreign ministers, Hubert Vedrine
and Robin Cook.
(Begin text)
Dear Messrs Vedrine and Cook,
After the consultations of the Kosova delegation with political and
military factors, as well as with the people of Kosova, concerning the agreement for peace
and self-government (dated February 23, 1999) from the Rambouillet meeting, this
delegation and I personally say ``yes'' to this agreement.
We would be honoured to sign the agreement in your presence at a time and place of your
choosing.
The agreement creates a chance and a perspective for Kosova and its
people.
Our consultations in Kosova were necessary and very important. Now that a positive mood on
behalf of the agreement has been created within the political and military structures, the
Kosova delegation is able to sign the agreement.
In this success of ours, your contribution as well as the contribution of the
administration of your countries was great. The fate of the Albanian people of Kosova is
at a historical turning point and the Kosova delegation has a big responsibility. You have
shown attention and patience concerning this fact.
Our delegation, and I, are very thankful for this.
We will expect your help, as well as the help of your governments, in the future. The
people of Kosova have been and will continue to be allies of your countries, and you can
count on this. Kosova needs freedom and democracy. Your personal contribution and that of
your countries are essential and respected.
Sincerely,
The Kosova delegation chairman,
Hashim Thaçi
(End text)
Serbian Military Offensive Continues Unabated, Many Vushtrri
Villages under Serbian Artillery Fire
PRISHTINA, March 16 (KIC) - Early in the morning today (Tuesday), Serbian military forces
resumed their mortar and artillery fire against at least 16 villages in the Vushtrri
municipality: Zhilivodë, Beçuk, Gllavotinë, Bivolak, Strofc, Mihaliq, Druar, Bruznik,
Balinc, Oshlan, Gurëbardh, Pantinë, Okrashticë, Dubovc, Galicë and Taraxhë.
It has been impossible to obtain information on casualties and damage today.
An Albanian, Muharrem Miftari (25), resident of Beçuk, was shot and wounded yesterday,
local LDK sources said.
Serbian forces continued burning Albanian houses in the villages of Mihaliq, Druar,
Shallc, Brusnik, and Stanofc i Poshtëm.
Just past 8,00 o'clock in the morning today, Serbian forces moved into the Beçuk village,
from where they have launched heavy machine-gun fire from all sides.
At around 8:30 CET, a combined military and police convoy consisting of 19 Serb vehicles
trailing combat pieces left Vushtrri heading for Druar village.
Heavy gunfire was reported Monday night, too.
Serbs Under Pressure in Kosovo
By DEBORAH SEWARD Associated Press Writer
PARIS (AP) - With ethnic Albanians promising to sign an international peace plan for
Kosovo, international mediators today were pressuring Yugoslav leaders to agree quickly or
face NATO military action.
The two delegations, accompanied by the chief mediator Christopher Hill, entered a Paris
conference center this morning as the talks resumed for a second day.
Ethnic Albanians on Monday said yes to the deal, making good on a pledge they gave to
international mediators three weeks ago when the first round of talks broke up
inconclusively.
The agreement would give the ethnic Albanians wide political autonomy in Kosovo while
keeping the province within Serbia's borders. The plan provides for NATO troops to enforce
it - something the Serbs continue to reject.
``We hope to sign the agreement tomorrow,'' the head of the ethnic Albanian delegation,
Hashim Thaci, told reporters hours after the second round of Kosovo peace talks opened
Monday in Paris.
The Serbs are now under heavy pressure to do the same, but during talks Monday they
repeated their rejection of the deployment of NATO troops, even under threat of
airstrikes.
``The Albanian side has shown real courage in convincing the people that it is necessary
to make a compromise,'' said British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, who is co-chairing the
talks along with French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine. ``We need the Serb side to show
the same courage.''
Vedrine said there was no deadline for the latest round of talks, but Western officials
have said they will not last more than a few d,ays.
Despite international pressure, the Serbs continued to dig in.
Serbian President Milan Milutinovic dismissed the Albanian announcement, saying,
``Unilateral signing does not mean anything.''
Asked whether NATO bombing of Serbia was now more likely, he responded: ``This is not out
of the question, but we are not afraid of that.''
In Washington, President Clinton said NATO airstrikes were possible if Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic failed to agree to the deal. Serbia is the main republic in Yugoslavia.
``If he shows intransigence and aggression, I think that from our point of view we would
have little option,'' Clinton said.
Clinton called on Milosevic to follow the ethnic Albanians' lead ``so we can avoid further
conflict and bloodshed.''
Even as the talks convened in France, fighting continued in Kosovo, where fighting over
the past year has killed some 2,000 people and displaced 300,000 others.
Yugoslav army forces with tanks and artillery pounded several abandoned villages in the
north held by the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army.
The KLA, meanwhile, attacked an army unit in the northern village of Luzane before dawn
Monday. Later in the day, two houses in the villages were still smoldering and the two
sides were in a standoff. The KLA also attacked two police stations the night before.
International monitors said they had found 10 bodies from weekend fighting elsewhere in
the province. The Albanian-run Kosovo Information Center said the 10 included two pairs of
brothers, shot dead by Serb police while chopping wood in the southern village of
Grejkovce.
The KLA has been fighting for the independence of Kosovo, Serbia's southernmost province,
where ethnic Albanians make up 90 percent of the population.
The peace agreement does not give the ethnic Albanians a hoped-for referendum on
independence and requires them to disarm - a hard decision for them given the ongoing
fighting.
``This is not an ideal solution, but peace in Kosovo has no price,'' said Thaci, head of
the ethnic Albanian delegation and a senior KLA official.
The 29-year-old rebel attributed the delegation's decision to sign to the ``positive
mood'' in Kosovo political and military groups.
The new fighting has intensified concern the conflict could lead to a wider war in the
Balkans if the peace talks fail.
Three Mitrovica Villages Reported Shelled Today Morning
PRISHTINA, March 16 (KIC) - Early in the morning today (Tuesday), Serbian forces shelled
the villages of Vërrnicë, Vaganicë and Kçiç i Madh, local LDK sources in Mitrovica
reported.
These Mitrovica villages, as well as 16 others in the neighbouring Vushtrri municipality,
were attacked by Serbian forces last night, too.
Serbian forces have been pounding the Albanian villages and UÇK positions from their
positions at Frashër i Vogël, Pirç, Zherovnicë, as well as their military base in
Kutllofc.
The detonations have been said to be very powerful. Reports that could no be immediately
confirmed said Serbs have been employing ground-to-ground rockets, too.
Serbian Military Shells Four Podujeva Villages for an Hour Today
Morning
PRISHTINA, March 16 (KIC) - After sporadic gunfire overnight, Serbian military forces
shelled today four Podujeva villages (Llapashticë e Poshtme, Llapashticë e Epërme,
Obrançë, and Katunishtë) for an hour, from 7:00 through 8:00 CET, local LDK sources in
Podujeva reported.
There has been a heavily restricted movement of citizens in the town of Podujeva, home to
20,000 residents, as Serb police holds it under a heavy grip, harassing random motorists
and passers-bye.
Hani i Elezit Villages Shelled Today Morning
PRISHTINA, March 16 (KIC) - Heavy gunfire was reported in Hani i Elezit ('General
Jankovic') area since 7:45 CET today, local LDK sources said. Four Serbian army tanks, two
APCs and three lorries full of soldiers headed towards Paldenicë village today morning.
Heavy artillery fire was reported opened by Serbian troops later. There has been no
immediate word on casualties or damage.
Sources from Hani i Elezit said the gunfire died down at around 10:00 CET.
Some 70 People Rounded up in Paldenik, Hani i Elezit Area
PRISHTINA, March 16 (KIC) - Serbian amry police has taken some 70 Albanians, rounded up in
Paldenik village, to an army post in Hani i Elezit, local LDK sources said. They were
reported to be mostly men.
The Serb army police have been reported holding a list in their hands, and separating the
detainees.
Serbian Military Surrounds, Raids Murademë Village of Zhur, Southern Kosova
PRISHTINA, March 16 (KIC) - Monday morning, around 10:00 CET, heavy Serbian military
forces surrounded the village of Murademë and raided Albanian houses there, local LDK
sources in Zhur village said.
Before starting their raids, allegedly searching for hidden arms, Serb soldiers ordered
all Albanian residents of the village huddle at a location.
The Serb army found three hunting rifles only, but smashed up and vandalized several
Albanian households.
At the close of their crackdown, the Serb army physically abused Naim Kurtaj, local LDK
leader in Murademë, and four other Albanian villagers.
Local Serbs Mobilized, Armed in Vitia Area
PRISHTINA, March 16 (KIC) - The Serbian regime-installed authorities in Vitia mobilized
Monday local Serbs in the area, providing them with weapons and uniforms, local LDK
sources said.
Serb army reservists were accommodated in the local elementary school at Binçë village
of Vitia municipality.
Grenade attack on Majac
Podjevë, March 16 (Kosovapress) There was grenade shelling from Serb positions in Lupç I
Poshtëm, just after midnight last night, against village Majac. The attack continued
until the early hours of this morning. Similarly, from Serb positions in Tabet e
Llapashticës, villages Obrançë and Llapashticë e Poshtme were attacked. Increased
movements of Serb war machinery and troops have been noticed this morning along the
Prishtinë-Podjevë axes.
International mediators are trying to persuade Serbian party
Paris, March 16 (Kosovapress) After the declaration of Albanian party, that they are ready
to sign an agreement on Kosova, trio of negotiators Hill, Petrisch and Mayorsky are
continuing talks with Serbs. Serbian side, came up with many different change proposals to
the document. International mediators are trying to persuade Yugoslav side to sign the
entire Agreement on Kosova.
Demonstration of American Albanians
New York, March 16 (Kosovapress) There was a demonstration of Albanians that live in USA,
held in New York yesterday. The demonstration was held at the same time when the second
round of the talks between Albanians and Serbs is under the way in Paris. The motto was
" For the Independence of Kosova" There was a strong support for Albanian
Delegation. Thousands of demonstrators were gathered in front of UN Headquarters to voice
their discontent with the failure of International community, to solve the Albanian issue.
Everybody should understand that, Albanians are determined to defend their lands because,
they are autochthonous there and because there were so many mistakes and unjustness done
to them throughout the history. Apart form many Albanians, there were many non-Albanian
personalities and supporters of Albanian cause, present in the demonstration. There were a
considerable number of foreign media present also. Banners such as " Independence for
Kosova", "Serbs Out of Kosova" dominated, and so did the signs and symbols
of UÇK, photographs of fallen Heroes and Martyrs, national Albanian and USA flags, etc.
Serb Bid To Change Kosovo Plan Rejected
By Tom Heneghan
PARIS (Reuters) - International mediators rejected a Serbian bid to recast a draft Kosovo
peace plan Tuesday, saying the autonomy accord for the majority Albanian province could
not be reopened, diplomatic and Serbian sources said.
After several tough public statements, Belgrade's delegation hinted behind closed doors in
Paris that it might be ready to discuss ways of policing any deal, they said.
But it was unclear whether this amounted to a shift in the Serbian position on Kosovo,
where Belgrade has firmly opposed the proposed deployment of NATO-led peacekeepers, or
another attempt to buy time at the make-or-break negotiations here.
Western powers in the six-nation Contact Group for former Yugoslavia piled pressure on
Belgrade, saying the talks could not drag on much longer and bringing in three NATO
officials to discuss details of the plan with the ethnic Albanians.
In Geneva, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said the current fighting in Kosovo was
the worst for months and that about 9,000 people had fled their homes to escape the
violence since the peace talks reopened in Paris Monday.
``They rejected our paper,'' a source close to the Serbian delegation said after Belgrade
presented Contact Group mediators with a list of objections to the 82-page draft accord.
``They said some minor technical changes might be possible... but the other major
objections would not be discussed at all.''
A European Union official denied the paper had been rejected outright but confirmed only
minor changes would be considered.
Western diplomats said Serbian delegates hinted at a shift in policy by conceding for the
first time that they might talk about how to implement the peace accord.
Belgrade has until now refused to discuss implementation, rejecting the NATO-led
peacekeeping force and the ethnic Albanian police the Contact Group wants to establish.
``They didn't object to talking about implementation once the political side of the
agreement is concluded,'' the envoy said.
But he noted the Serbian side only spoke of civilian aspects of the peacekeeping operation
and not NATO or the police.
A spokesman for the Contact Group's senior mediator made clear that Belgrade had little
time left to agree to the deal or face possible bombing from NATO planes.
``Today is a crucial day in terms of seeing whether the Serbs will engage (in
negotiation),'' Phil Reeker, spokesman for U.S. mediator Christopher Hill, told reporters.
``I think everyone is aware that there is no reason to hang around if there is no
engagement.''
Talks co-chairmen France and Britain invited the NATO team -- a civilian, an admiral and a
general -- to brief the ethnic Albanians on military details of the plan's implementation.
The alliance plans to deploy 28,000 soldiers in Kosovo.
The peace talks dragged on last month for 17 inconclusive days at Rambouillet chateau
outside Paris before adjourning.
The ethnic Albanians supplied a long-awaited breakthrough Monday by announcing they would
sign the accord giving them NATO-shielded autonomy but not yet the independence they
sought.
Senior Belgrade officials ridiculed that step and denied they were now under more pressure
to sign the accord.
``Why? They have signed something that does not exist,'' Serbian President Milan
Milutinovic told reporters.
Yugoslav Information Minister Milan Komnenic added: ``We are ready to sign, but what
accord? What document? What program? Written by whom? Where? At Rambouillet? That does not
exist.''
Diplomats said the Contact Group -- the United States, Russia, France, Britain, Germany
and Italy -- might give Belgrade until Friday to agree, after which the countdown toward
the long-threatened air attacks might begin.
For Villages of Kosovo, War Is Part of Daily Life
By CARLOTTA GALL
PRUGOVAC, Yugoslavia -- It was mid-morning on the main road north out of Kosovo. Police
had blocked off the road and automatic gunfire rattled beyond the village. Over the brow
of the hill, three Yugoslav army tanks pulled into position beside the road, training
their guns on the houses opposite.
Passengers climbed out of their cars to watch as armored troop carriers and trucks of
soldiers poured down the hill and into the village. More soldiers took up positions along
the road, hunkering down beneath a grassy bank.
Beneath their guns, a middle-aged woman in black, carrying a bright green plastic shopping
bag, walked down the path and into the garden of her house. Another day in Kosovo. There
is a war going on and it is happening outside everyone's backdoor.
The activity in Prugovac was a typical operation for the Yugoslav army and police forces.
A sniper had shot and wounded an army officer driving his jeep down the main road at
mid-morning, and the security forces reacted swiftly and with full force.
A few miles west, a group of ethnic Albanian villagers stood waiting for a bus outside the
village of Stanovac. As they talked beside the road, gunfire crackled behind them. No one
even flinched.
"They have been shooting since six this morning. We are leaving for Vuctirn,"
said Ejup Kosumi, a 22-year-old student, as he ran for the bus heading for the nearby
town.
A 60-year-old grandmother who identified herself as Nefiz sat slumped on a concrete block,
too weary to try to catch the bus. "We left the village on Friday because bullets
were flying over our gardens. Everyone was getting out, so I did too." She returned
on Monday to milk the cow and check on her sons who had stayed behind.
She said men were firing from the Serbian village, which backed on to Stanovac, barely 500
yards away. "They want us to leave our houses so they can come in and steal,"
she said.
Still further on, heavy explosions resounded in the hills. Serbian forces were shelling to
the west in a large-scale operation to clear villages suspecting of harboring guerrillas
of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
Foreign monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe are
struggling to keep up with pockets of fighting that are breaking out day and night all
over Kosovo. On Sunday, monitors attempted to drive into the village of Stanovac but were
fired upon from the Serbian village of Grace. When the monitors tried to drive into the
Serbian village, the police blocked them.
By Monday the monitors were admitting there was nothing they could do. There was no sign
of their neon orange vehicles on the road outside Stanovac. Most of them were tied up
monitoring other events. "The nastiness has increased lately," commented one
monitor in the region.
The monitors are mostly military men, but they are unarmed and wear civilian clothes in
Kosovo. They are showing frustration at having to monitor the cease-fire violations, which
are growing in number and seriousness by the day. "This mission is past its sell-by
date; there is nothing much more that we can do," said one senior military figure in
the mission.
The OSCE has watched as a string of villages has come under tank and mortar fire for more
than a week now. Yugoslav army forces took over the Albanian village of Mijalic and were
guarding the entrance with a tank and several troop trucks, keeping journalists and
monitors away.
"This is a war zone, " said a young Serbian soldier guarding the road, an
automatic rifle at the ready across his chest. "It is dangerous and you must
leave."
As dusk fell, fires broke out in the houses across the lower half of the village, blazing
fiercely against the darkening sky. Bright flashes of light showed through the smoke as
mortars were fired, impacting with a heavy crump moments later.
Across the fields several men ventured out from houses to watch the war on their doorstep.
They pointed out the villages that were burning. "This one here is Mijalic, that is
Glavatin, and over there is Bechuk," said Isak Caka, a 35-year-old builder and ethnic
Albanian.
"They are torching the villages by hand," he said of the Yugoslav army.
"They want to leave us out in the woods with no roof over our heads because they do
not even want to set eyes on us."
The Serbian Media Center in Pristina issued a statement on Mondayh blaming the Kosovo
Liberation Army, known as the KLA, for provoking the Yugoslav troops and said the
guerrillas were seeking to push NATO to use force against Serbia.
But the men disagreed. They said everyone knew guerrilla fighters had been present in
Mijalic before the army's operation, but they argued the scale of the retribution was
unjustified.
Of the group of six, four of the men were refugees from villages in the region, and had
fled with their families down the valley. Now they had sent the women and children on
again to the nearby town and said they were watching developments by the hour.
"We are afraid. They do not ask you if you have KLA in your village or not,"
Caka said.
Serbs, Albanians Fight Despite Talk
PRISHTINA, Kosova (AP) - Three villages in northern Kosovo were reported on fire today as
Serb-led government forces pushed ethnic Albanian rebels further into a mountain range,
threatening to cut a link between two major guerrilla strongholds.
The clashes between the Yugoslav army and police and rebels from the Kosovo Liberation
Army entered a second week today, according to Serb sources in Pristina.
The Serb push against the rebels in the area, prompted by the killing of two Serbs and
abduction of a soldier by the KLA two weeks ago, is one of the fiercest since a cease-fire
agreement was reached last October.
Reporters in the government-held village of Priluzje, about 10 miles northwest of the
Kosovo capital Pristina, saw the villages of Glavotina, Strovce and Bencuk in flames
today, with plumes of thick smoke rising above. Heavy fire resounded in the area.
The afflicted villages are at the foot of the Cicavica mountain range, separating central
Drenica region from the northeastern parts of the province. The two areas are rebel
strongholds, and the Serb forces are apparently trying to cut a link between them.
Sabit Kadriu, an ethnic Albanian activist in the town Vucitrn, about 17 miles north of
Pristina, said ethnic Albanian villages were being looted first and then ``systematically
destroyed and burned.''
The fighting escalated as U.S. and European diplomats in France struggled to have ethnic
Albanian and Serb delegations sign a peace agreement for the province at resumed talks.
As the talks reopened in France, Serb forces bombarded villages in northern Kosovo with
heavy guns Monday, and ethnic Albanians reportedly attacked a police station on a main
Kosovo road.
Several Yugoslav army soldiers were reportedly wounded in the northern Kosovo fighting
Monday.
An October cease-fire under which the Yugoslav government withdrew thousands of troops
from the province has effectively collapsed. NATO sources said Monday there are at least
15,000 Yugoslav army and 20,000 Serbian police forces in Kosovo - at least as many as
there were before the pullouts last fall. |
